Hey everyone. So I had just busted out of the 20+2 FTP NL tournament 10 away from the bubble, and I got a message from TPP little brother, Mark Mckim, saying that he was gonna play in the 10+1 that was starting in a few minutes. I decided to play in it, not really expecting to do much because I was tired, and didn't really feel like playing, but when I know I can beat one player FOR SURE, that's one mroe player I can count out of the tournament. Sorry Mark, you took a rough beat. I started off the tournament card dead. Saw cowboys once but then really didn't get a hand for the first hour. Amazingly, I ran my chip count up to 5000 by the, and with 27 remaining, I had a good chance of making the money. Then the final table came and I saw myself sitting with 12k in chips, 8th in chips, and the blinds at 600/1200 with a 150 ante. Eventually, with some luck in teh cards, I got my stack up to about 80k, after having just busted out the 4th place finisher with my qq vs his aq. Everyone was pretty even in chips, hovering around the 77k mark, until one hand.

I believe my image at the table was that I was a tight aggressive player and that I always had the goods when I entered a pot. Playing short-handed, however, has to bring a change. I played much more loose, but still tight enough where I wasn't losing anything. What I kept noticing though, was that the person to my left, was calling my raise every time, but never really raised preflop unless he had the goods. So i decided to call with anything reasonable. Then this hand came up.

SB Hero (68000)
BB Villain (65000)
Blinds 1500/3000 400 ante

Hero has j 10 o

Hero completes (knowing he wasn't going to raise unless he had a good hand)
Villain checks.

FLOP (POT = 7200)
9s Ad Kd
Hero checks
Villain bets 3550
Hero calls 3550 (I called because I felt he was weak and could steal it on the turn, plus as a semibluff, if I hit, I had the absolute nuts and could stack him incase he is strong)

Turn (Pot = 14300)
9s Ad Kd 6s
Hero bets 12000 (I bet this to try to get him to fold right there, but if he called, I was done, unless I hit a Queen. Also if he reraised, I would fold immediately with 39000 still to play with)
Villain calls 12000 (Now I know he hit that board. Most likely an Ace or a K, possibly a flush draw).

River (POT = 38300)
9s Ad Kd 6s Qs

There it was, my miracle card. It would have been better if it had been an offsuit Queen, but if he hit a backdoor flush, so be it. He wasn't going to call anything substantial, so I decided to take a nice chunk

Hero bets 15000
Villain calls 15000 shows K7o

I dragged that huge pot in, giving me over 100k, while he went on tilt, getting 3rd, and then I eventually won the tournament starting with a 3:1 chip advantage. I can't say that my play was flawless because I was caught with my hand in the cookie jar and lost half my stack earlier in the tourney and had to rebuild.

Using information you have on a player in a hand, helped me win that pot and eventually the tournament. Knowing that he was passive and that he wouldn't raise me with the goods, I knew exactly how strong he was, and was able to see that LUCKY river. All he had to do was raise me somewhere in the hand and i was out. When you are the aggressor, you always put the decision on the other player, which is always tough. I intend on playing these tournies all the time, because they have been very profitable for me.

I pride myself in being a better tourney player than a cash game player. Don't get me wrong, I have more than enough patience to play a cash game, but it just seems a tournament is worth it because of the excitement of being all-in. I play tournaments to win, so when I think I have an edge, even if it's miniscule, I play accordingly. I was in the 50+5 Bustout Bonanza tournament on Full Tilt, where top 36 pay and the winner gets around 4500 big ones. 361 platers, including pros such as Stephen Brecher, who was teh first one to bust out at my table, a pro named Quiet Lion, and Howard Lederer. None of them got past the top 200. I had been playing with this table a long time, so I knew who to mess with and how to stay away from with certain hands.

I was the chip leader with around 60000 in chips and 22 people left, when suddenly the server shut down, scaring the hell out of me, because I had worked so hard to build my stack slowly and surely. This had worked out perfectly because nobody noticed my chip stack until it was huge. When it cut out, it turned out i only missed the break, returning on the first hadn back. After 2 hands, i was now second in chips behind the guy to my immediate right. I did not want to mess with him because he had just moved to our table and I didn't have any reads on him. The first hand he came into (Hand #3 for me) he reraised a short stack who had just gone all-in for 3000 (Blinds 800/1600 w/ 200 ante) to 11000, approximately a fifth of my stack. I had QQ, and for some reason, I was scared of AA and KK, so I did the worst possible move, I called.

When goin against a new player who had just been very aggressive, the number of hands he could reraise with that I beat far outweighed the 8 6 possible ways of him beating me, so I should have pushed and isolated myself with the short stack. Calling did me no help because of the fact that I had no idea where I stood. Flop comes out beautifully, all under cards. He bet 10000, I called again, fearing that I was beat. I should haev either folded or pushed. The turn came an Ace and I was done with the hand. If that card didn't help him, he had KK and I was done anyway. So he bet again and I folded.

He flipped over A10s. I lost half of my stack because I was so worried about busting out. I then lost 2 races with short stacks, putting me down to 12000 (blinds were 1000/2000/125) and i pushed with 55. I was knocked out in 15th, about 4 hands after my huge mistake.

15th place is nothing to be ashamed of, but my timidity in one hand cost me this tournament. It's amazing how one hand in NL can destroy one's chances of winning. I made a good laydown too late when I let him catch up to me.

Oh well, there's always next time.